Why Africa is attracting luxury EV companies

Author

Brian Ambani
October 07, 2025

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Why Africa is attracting luxury EV companies

Swedish automaker Volvo has announced that the ES90, its newest electric vehicle, will make its Africa debut in South Africa in 2026. Volvo has commenced production of the ES90, a luxury sedan offering a range of up to 700 km and top speed of 180 km/h. It comes with a 92 kWh battery, which can be charged from 10-80% in 22 minutes with a 300 kW DC charger. 

  • Volvo is the biggest EV company in South Africa, commanding 43% of the market in 2024. The new ES90 expands Volvo’s lineup in the country, positioning it for further dominance.  

  • It highlights the growing number of luxury EVs being introduced to the continent. This follows increased demand along with the growing number of high net-worth individuals.  

  • Our take: A luxury EV comes with high-end tech like DC fast charging. That’s especially valuable where public chargers are inadequate… Read more (2 min)

Looking back over fundraising in the past month, we note that French asset management company Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers, has made its first investment in Africa’s rapidly growing electric mobility sector. The fund issued a loan of $10 million to ARC Ride, a Kenya-based electric motorcycle firm. It says it won’t be the last.  

  • The Mirova loan is the biggest debt raised by an African EV company since BasiGo raised $17.5 million debt in October 2024. Only Zembo ($1 million) and Kofa ($4.3 million) have also raised debt in 2025.  

  • Mirova is expected to make further investments in Africa’s EV sector. Its Gigaton Fund has raised more than $171 million and seeks to hit a target of $500 million.

  • Our take: Mirova’s loan has a tenure of only five years. Africa’s EV companies need longer-term financing… Read more (2 min)

The discussion around EV insurance often centres on costs, risks and repair logistics, but the real challenge lies in underwriting accuracy, says Thabo Manamela, Head of Quality and Knowledge Management at South African insurer Santam. While EVs are seen as lower-risk compared to fuel cars, insurers still lack sufficient claims to price them differently.

  • Mr Manamela has been at Santam for 16 years and currently leads claims compliance, governance and technical training. He has also held key management roles in knowledge and policy development.

  • The rise of EVs presents an emerging risk factor for insurers, particularly in assessing parts availability and specialised repair needs. The focus is on ensuring that EV risks are properly reflected in underwriting and pricing models.

  • To read the full opinion… click here (2 min)

A Roam team cheers at the flag-off ceremony for their Nairobi to Addis trip

Events

📅 Attend Dakar Slush’D event (Oct 10)

📅 Join EV experts at Auto Tech Expo in Egypt (Oct 24)

📅 Register for Africa EV Mobility Expo (Dec 4)

Jobs

💼 Become a Yard Operations Associate at Greenwheels (Ghana)

📈 Lead Digital Marketing and Branding at Spiro (Rwanda)

⚡ Apply for Battery Attendant’s role at MAX (Nigeria)

Various 

🤝🏻 EV24.africa, Jubaili Bros Nigeria & Illigo partner to boost e-mobility

🤝 Blu EV partners with Motopoint reinforces Blu EV’s after-sales infrastructure

👏 Volvo EX30 and BMW X3 bag awards at Naamsa Accelerator Awards 2025

Seen on LinkedIn 

Fredrick Odero, Principal Engineer at Tau Wireless,  says, “As it is every EV bike manufacturer has a proprietary battery and battery management system that is vendor-locked. Clearly, from the demographics in Africa, the opportunities for adoption of EV bikes are plentiful hence the push by Spiro and others to frontload the market but if riders can only charge or exchange their batteries at proprietary charging stations the real potential of EV bikes won't be realised.”